Seattle Light Rail vs Seattle Buses
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Seattle Light Rail
Plan trips, view live arrivals, and find station details for light rail and regional transit. Get real-time alerts and helpful boarding information. Supports multiple languages and offers offline functionality.
- Offline trip planning
- Live arrival times
- Disruption alerts
- Station facility information
- Boarding advice
- Saved trips
- Apple Watch app
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Plan your Link light rail trip, check live arrivals and service alerts, and find the best car to board for your exit. Explore station entrances, facilities, and step-free access information. Save your regular trips, receive optional disruption alerts, and follow stop-by-stop guidance with Trip Companion. Widgets, Live Activities, and Apple Watch keep useful trip information close at hand. Core rail planning works offline with a bundled timetable. Live information requires an internet connection. Available in 22 languages. No account required. No advertising, analytics, or tracking SDKs. Seattle Light Rail is an independent app, not affiliated with or endorsed by Sound Transit or any other transit agency. Link, ORCA, and related marks belong to their respective owners.
Seattle Buses
Track live bus positions on a clear map of King County Metro routes. Save custom route sets and stops for your daily commute. Easily access routes using Siri shortcuts.
- Live bus tracking on map
- Color-coded route lines
- Compare up to four routes
- Show bus stops and arrivals
- Save custom route sets
- Siri integration for routes
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Simple. Built by local commuters, for local commuters. Seattle Buses helps you see where your bus is before you head to the stop. Follow live buses, compare your usual routes, and check estimated arrivals so you can time your trip with less guesswork. Don't just miss the bus that's coming around the corner. See what's approaching and whether another bus is close behind. If a bus pulls up busy, check where the next one is before deciding whether to wait. Seattle Buses shows bus locations and estimated arrivals, not passenger crowding levels. FOR OUR SEATTLE NEIGHBORHOODS From Fremont, Wallingford, Green Lake, Ballard, and Magnolia to South Lake Union (SLU) and Seattle's north end, this is a simple tool for the trips we take every day. Built for neighbors in South Lake Union, Cascade, Eastlake, Westlake, Northlake, Queen Anne, Uptown, Interbay, Magnolia, Fremont, Wallingford, Green Lake, Phinney Ridge, Greenwood, Ballard, Adams, West Woodland, Whittier Heights, Loyal Heights, Sunset Hill, Crown Hill, North Beach, Blue Ridge, Broadview, Bitter Lake, Haller Lake, Licton Springs, Northgate, Maple Leaf, Pinehurst, Olympic Hills, Lake City, Cedar Park, Matthews Beach, Meadowbrook, Wedgwood, View Ridge, Sand Point, Hawthorne Hills, Laurelhurst, Bryant, Ravenna, Roosevelt, the University District, and Montlake. The app follows the selected Metro routes listed below; not every route or stop in these neighborhoods is included. YOUR EVERYDAY COMMUTE, MADE SIMPLE • See live bus positions and compare up to four routes on one map. • Tap a stop for estimated arrivals from approaching buses. • Save up to three route sets for your morning, afternoon, or evening. • Open My Route to see the routes and stops saved for that time of day. • Open a favorite route with Siri and Shortcuts. • Choose your route colors and a light, dark, or system appearance. No account to create. Your saved route sets stay on your device. Arrival times are estimates calculated from live bus positions and remaining route distance using an average speed of 22 mph. They are not official Metro arrival predictions or scheduled departure times. Actual arrivals vary with traffic, stops, and service changes. Live vehicle availability depends on Metro’s real-time feed. Supported routes: 1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 17, 24, 28, 31, 32, 33, 40, 44, 45, 62, 65, 70, C, D, and E. Transit scheduling, geographic, and real-time data provided by permission of King County.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Seattle Light Rail at every 6 days against Seattle Buses's fortnightly. Seattle Light Rail also leads on device support (3 vs 1). On price, rating, review sentiment and ratings volume there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Seattle Light Rail against 5.0 for Seattle Buses. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 3 and 5 respectively. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.
Seattle Light Rail ships an update every 6 days, Seattle Buses fortnightly. Both last shipped on October 31, 2026.
| Parameter | Seattle Light Rail | Seattle Buses |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (3 ratings) | 5.0 (5 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 3 | 5 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 6 days — better | Fortnightly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 26.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 59 MB | 3 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Adam Aarniokoski | Collin Bordeaux |
Customer experience
Seattle Light Rail
Seattle Buses
In-app purchases
Seattle Light Rail
No in-app purchases
Seattle Buses
No in-app purchases







